Most of the smoking woods you'll buy and use are hardwoods, typically from fruit or nut trees.

Fruit woods like apple give a lighter, sweeter flavored smoke and really work best with chicken or pork.

Other woods like oak and hickory give a much stronger smoke flavor and can be used with most meats. Hickory is one of the most popular but a little goes a very long way.

Also available are flavor infused pellets made from compressed sawdust, shown on the left.

A handful of the Jack Daniels pellets added when the meat goes on the grill gives a fantastic flavor.

You may also be able to find Whiskey or Wine barrel chunks - if you do, get them.

They add a very subtle charcoal smoker flavor as they smoke and the years of wine or whiskey aroma is released.
The table below lists some of the different types of smoker grill woods and suggests the best food to use them with:

Alder

Very light, delicate sweet flavor. Similar look and feel to Cedar

Great for lighter foods like fish. Also works well with pork and poultry.

Apple

Slightly denser than Alder but still a fruity sweet smoke

Nice complement to poultry and pork. Depending on rub or marinade a nice change
to pork ribs or ham. This combines well with other woods like Cherry.

Great on the smoker grill with most meats but I find works best with Beef. Try it if you're smoking cheese as it gives a bacony flavor. Then use that cheese stuffed in pork rib chop recipe like this. Another good wood that can be
blended with other wood smokes, like Oak.

Maple

Subtle sweet smoke flavor

Goes very well with Pork.

Mesquite

Familiar Tex-Mex smoke odor and flavor. Strong unmistakeable taste.

Great when doing beef or chicken on your smoker grill. I wouldn't use this on fish.

Oak

Nice balanced smokey flavor - goes very well with other woods as a blend like Cherry
or Apple - even tones down Hickory

Suitable for all types of meats.

Pecan

Sweet flavor with a hint of nuts.

If you're doing one of the asian inspired recipes try this wood. Also great with Chicken and Pork.

Whiskey/Wine Barrel wood chunks

Depending on your location you may be able to find these. When these barrels reach the
end of life they're occasionally cut into chunks for smoking woods. Subtle flavors based
on the type of barrel wood you're using.

Wine based chunks can enhance beef, particularly if combined with rosemary distributed
across the hot coals. Experiment and have fun.

Flavored Pellets

Available at most big-box hardware or BBQ shops. Many flavors to choose from including
the familiar smoking woods. Try the Jack Daniels - nice subtle flavor but definitely a flavor.

Use on different foods as you wood regular chips or chunks.

How to prepare chips and chunks for the bbq smoker:

Soak wood chips and chunks for at least an hour in enough water to cover them. For added flavor I also use different liquids like apple ciders, bourbon, beer or wine.

Even with soaking the chips there's actually very little penetration of the liquid into the wood - cut one open after a few hours and you'll see it may have only soaked in an 1/8".

Regardless, even this little amount of liquid helps prevent the chips or chunks from burning too quickly when tossed on the hot coals and smoking longer.

Mix your smoking woods:

Consider a blend of wood chips for even more unique flavors on your smoker grill.

How about a Texas blend of hickory, mesquite and oak for smoking beef?

Apple and Cherry work well together when doing BBQ Chicken recipes like this Jerk Chicken.

If you can find Pecan it mixes well with Oak and Hickory to smooth out the strong flavor of the Hickory, use equal parts of the three together.